Article Writing Arts and Goals
For most of us, writing an article is as much fun as a trip to the dentist, and each word extracted from our pen is as painful as pulling our teeth out one by one… I’ve just been reviewing a client’s article marketing strategy and am depressed at the fundamental shortcomings in both the approach and execution… Often, my depressions are a spur to a story – the painstaking explanation of the error of the client’s ways providing a foundation for an article of my own.
Article Content
Reputable article distribution directories specifically do not permit advertising. Nor will they approve excessive but utterly pointless keyword use in the content. The only thing in the content that matters is that you provide an interesting, authoritative, original, informative and non-commercial article on the specific topic. In this case study, what was required was more along the lines of a travel article, discussing aspects relating respectively to Holiday Homes in New Zealand, Luxury Lodges in New Zealand and Luxury Accommodation in New Zealand. What we had was 3 articles, keyword-stuffed with multiple iterations of both the business name and the targeted keywords.
The goal is to get it published – therefore, you need a catchy title, and interesting, topical and/or timely information. You do not need to add multiple iterations of the targeted keywords anywhere in the article itself. In most article repositories, the article body usually won’t generate a direct benefit to your website per se. What you need is an 800 word story that captures people’s interest and makes them want to include it, with attribution (author’s credits) on their website… You should therefore focus on getting the primary keyword phrase/s you want to target in the (maximum of 2) links in the Author’s Bio… Unfortunately, the first of three articles I previewed from this client had;
- 387 words in total
- 11 iterations of the business name
- 7 iterations of the primary keyword phrase (5 complete / 2 partial)
- 5 iterations of the secondary keyword phrase
- no Authors Bio
Article Links
Most article distribution directories do not permit links in the content body, only in the Author’s Bio section. The only link in these articles was in the body of the article. Articles provide you with the absolute best opportunity to generate DEEP LINKS. In this client example, the sole link was;
- in the body text – the wrong place
- to the Home page instead of a relevant internal page (deep link)
- a total waste of the link potential, due to using the Domain Name as the Anchor Text
The goals for an article are usually;
- First of all, to get it accepted for inclusion in the article repository.
- If an editor approves it, then you get a maximum of 2 (deep) links back to your site using your primary keyword phrase as the Anchor Text (link title).
- Secondly, for it to be useful, original and usable enough that other website owners will copy and publish it with attribution of source
- Publication means you get an additional 2 (deep) links back to your site, using your primary keyword phrase as the Anchor Text (link title).
- To establish trust and credibility as an author
- To get people to read your articles, and to come on your website looking for more information
- To build an information resource that expands your own website content
A good article can potentially generate 100’s of keyword-rich links to your site. An exceptionally good article may generate 1000′s of links. Either way, articles can substantially increase the total deep link count and the extent of keywords Google et al will associate with your website. This increases the number of phrases that your website is relevant to, and potentially increases your position in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) as well as increasing overall qualified traffic.
Searching for the Title of the clients article on Google, using an exact-match search, there were 8 links from two domains, both of which were bottom-of-the-barrel Press Release sites.
Obviously, his strategy needs a rethink and refocus because the current approach means the articles will never be approved and accepted by authoritative article distribution directories, let alone picked up by other site owners for inclusion in their content… The really depressing aspect is that the client was paying an SEO company for the article copy-writing and distribution service, partially rewriting the poorly written articles himself, and then expecting them to deliver miracles! So, by and large he has pretty much been wasting time and money on article link-building efforts thus far…
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